Cotton huller, cleaner, and gin-feeder.



EATENT'ED JULY 7, 1903.

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QQTTQN `HULLER, CLEANER,` AND GIN FEEDER.

` APPLICATION IL-ED MAY 17 1902 2 SHEETS--SEEET 1.

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PATENTED JULY '7, 1903.

` E. B. LARsoN. i A COTTON HULLBR, CLEANER, AND GIN FEEDER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 17. 1902.

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UNrrnD STATES l" PATEN Patented Juiy "7, 190e.

Felon.

ERIC B. LAR'soN, oF DALLAS, TEXAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 732,869, dated July '7, 1903..

Y i Application ined May 1'7, 1250.2. serial No. 107,857. (No modem To all whom, if may concern,.-

Be it known that I, ERIOB.` LARSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Dallas, in the county of Dallas and State of Texas, have invented a newand useful Cotton I-Iuller, Cleaner, and Gin-Feeder, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention is an improved cotton huller, cleaner, and gin-feeder adapted for separating the hullsand foreign substances from the cotton, ejecting said hulls and foreign substances, and feeding the seed-cotton to a gin,

whereby the cottonis cleaned and separated from the hulls, foreign substances, and dirt before being fed to the gin; and my invention consists in the peculiar construction and combination of devices hereinafter fully i set 'forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a `vertical transverse sectional view of a combined cotton huller, cleaner, and gin-feeder constructed in accordance with my invention.r Fig. 2 is a detail elevation showing the rear side of the breast and a portion of the screen which is below the same. Fig. 3

is a detail perspective View showing a portion of the breast. v

The casing 1 may be either of the form here shownor of any other suitable con-. struction, and the same is provided with a feed-chamber 2, in which, below the throat or opening 3 thereof, a pair of revoluble feedy t rollers 4 are here shown, the said feed-rollers `chamber 2.

rotating so that their opposing sides move in the same direction as indicated by the arrows in Fig.`1 and being spaced apart appropriately to allow the cotton-bat to be fed downwardly between them into the feed- The lower front side of the feedchamberis formed by a breast 5. Within lthe scope of my invention the breast may be of any approved construction. The same is here shown `as formed of a single piece of sheet o r plate metal concaved transversely on its front side, as at 6and having bars 7V formed between openings 8, which are cut in i the said plate, which openings are of sufficient length to extend at their upper and lower ends beyond said concaved portion of thebreast and of sufficient breadth in their upper 4portions to admit of the passage of cotton-locks between them and which have prevent the passage of hulls and foreign substances. The widened upper portions of the openings 8 are designated by the reference :either side of the tongue portion where the `two meet. A short descriptive term for these openings would seem to be of cricket-bat outline.

A revoluble picker-roller l is disposed with l one side proximate to the concaved side of the breast, and the said picker-roller revolves in a chamber 11, which communicates with the feed-chamber 2 through the spaces 8 between the bars of the breast. The front side 12 of .the said picker-roller 4chamber is here shown as hinged at its upper side, as at 13, so that the said side 12 may be readily opened. The bearings for the picker-roller are carried by the hinged side 12, so that when the latter is Iopened the picker-roller is carried thereby out of the chamber 11 to give access to the breast 5. The latter is provided with peripheral spurs 14, which are disposed tangentially with reference to a circle concentric with the 'axis of the picker-roller, and the said spurs .incline in the direction of the rotation of the picker-roller, as shown in Fig. 1, the pickerroller rotating in the direction indicated by the arrow a. The spurs of the picker-roller are disposed to operate in the openings 8 in the breast between the bars thereof, .and the said spurs pass upwardly through and outwardly from the said openings and act to engage the cotton-locks and to draw the same through the openings S or rather through the widened upper portions of the said openings; but the hulls are arrested by the bars, and the cotton-seed or seed-cotton and lint are drawn from the hulls by the picker-roller through the spaces between thebreast-bars and downwardly through the front side of the chamber 11.

In the lower portion of the feed-chamber 2 and near the breast is a revoluble feed-roller 15.

The same is provided with bent periphtheir lower portions contracted in width to direction of rotation of the said feed-roller, the same beine` indicated bythe arrow b. The outer ends of the spurs of the feed-roller closely approach the outer ends of the spurs of the picker-roller-that is to say, the respective planes of revolution of the pickerroller and the feed-roller closely approach each other on their opposing sides. In practice the feed-roller is adjustable toward and from the picker-roller, so that the distance between them may be regulated as may be required. The feed-roller l5 operates centrit'ugally to hurl the cotton against the spurs of the picker-roller, so that the cotton will be engaged by the picker-roller and separated from the hulls and foreign substances by being drawn between the bars of the breast by the picker-roller, as hereinbefore stated.

It will be understood that foreign substances such as nails and spikes fed into the machine with the cotton will by the disturbance of the cotton, created by the centrifugal force of the feed-roller 15, become loosened from the cotton and be arrested by the bars of the breast, prevented from entering the chamber 11 and thereby separated from the cotton, together with the hulls. A door 17 is shown in an opening in the rear side of the casingand somewhat belowthe roller 15. This door is hinged at its lower side, as at 1S, and is adapted to open inwardly, as is indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and to be disposed with its free upper end below the breast, and when the door is thus disposed the same forms a chute which will discharge the hulls, nails, or other foreign substances separated from the cotton by gravity outwardly through the opening in the rear side of the casing.

An adjusting-board 19 in the rear side of the feed-chamber 2, which is here shown as hinged at its upper side, as at 20, may be so' set as to widen or contract the feed-chamber, and hence regulate the quantity of material contained in the feed-chamber and disposed for the operation of the feed-roller l5 and picker-roller 10.

A dofng-cylinder 2l, which is rotated ata high rate of speed, is disposed in a chamber 22 below the chamberll and which communicates therewith. The rear side of the chamber 22 is formed by a screen 23, which is concentric with the dofng-cylinder. The latter is provided with radial peripheral spurs 24, and the plane of revolution of the said doffing-cylinder is at its upper side nearly in contact with the lower side of the planeA of 4revolution of the picker-roller. The chamber 22 has a discharge-opening 25 in its front side, and an inclined board or chute 26 leads downwardly and outwardly from the lower side of the said opening and the lower front side of the screen 23, the said board or chute being adapted to discharge the cotton into a gin, (indicated at A.) The rotation of the doffing-cylinder is reverse to that of the pickerroller, and its direction is indicated by the arrow c. The cotton is drawn from the pickerroller by the dofng-cylinder and carried by the dofng-cylinder over Vthe screen 23, the latter serving to screen out and separate from the cotton the liner dirt particles and other finer foreign substances. Hence the cotton is separated from its hulls from nails, spikes, and other substances which might injure the saws or other portion of the gin, and the cotton is also cleaned while being fed to the gin and before it reaches the same. The casing shown in Fig. l of the drawings is provided with a chamber 27 below the chamber 22 and which also extends upwardly in rear thereof and communicates with the feed-chamber 2. In the bottom of the chamber 27 is a conveyertrough 28, in which is a suitable conveyer. (Here shown as a worm 29.) The same operates to eject the foreign substances separated from the cotton and which fall from the breast when the door 17 is opened and disposed in a vertical position and the earth particles and other finer substances which fall from the screen 23. The bottom of the said chamber 27 is formed by oppositely-inclined boards 30, which conduct the foreign substances -to the trough 28 and the conveyor therein.

No means are here shown for revolving the rollers 4, the feed-roller 15, the picker-roller 10, the dofng-cylinder 21, and the conveyerworm 29. The same may be rotated by any suitable means, such as is well understood by persons skilled in the art to which my invention relates, and I do not deem it necessary to include the same in this specification.

I do not desire to limit myself to the precise construction and combination of devices herein shown and described, as modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of my invention. p

Having thus described my invention, I claimp 1. In a machine of the class described, a

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breast having openings of cricket-bat outline and concaved on its front side, the upper and lower. ends of said cricket-bat-shaped openings being extended beyond said concaved portion of the breast.

2. The combination of a breast having openings approximately of cricket-batoutline, and a revoluble picker-roller having spurs disposed to operate in the said openings.

3. The combination of a feed-chamber having means to vary its eective width, a breast in one side of the feed-chamber, a revoluble picker-roller having spurs disposed to operate in the spaces between the bars of the breast, and a revoluble feed-roller having peripheral spurs and disposed in the feedchamber near the breast, substantially as described.

4. In a cotton-cleaner and gin-feeder, a casing having a feed-chamber, a picker-chamber, a cleaning chamber and a dischargechamber for the impurities, in combination with separating, dof'ng and screening elements in the respective picker and cleaning chambers, and a door in the rear sideof said casing, adapted when disposed in one position, to establish communication between the feed and cleaning chambers, and when disposed in another position to form a chute to discharge cotton-hulls and foreign substances .i p directly from the lower side of the breast, substantialiy as described.

5. The combination of a breast having openings therein of cricket-bat outline of sufficient width at its upper and widest portion to allow cotton-locks to pass through, anda revoiubie picker-roller having spurs, disposed to oper- 

